Crockpot Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

INGREDIENTS:
1 medium sized head of cabbage (you will need about 16 leaves for the actual rolls but you'll need some extra for the rest of the recipe)

FOR THE FILLING:
3/4 pound (12 ounces) of organic ground turkey

1 cup of cooked organic brown rice with quinoa (may sub for all quinoa or all brown rice or white rice)

freshly grated ginger

1 carrot finely chopped

1 celery finely chopped

1 green onion chopped

2 cloves of chopped garlic

1/2 of an onion finely chopped (cut the other half into large chunks and reserve for later)

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of sugar

black pepper

extra virgin olive oil

FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE:

1 (14.5 ounce) can of organic (no salt) fire roasted tomatoes

1 Tablespoon of Maggie seasoning (or soy sauce)

1-2 Tablespoon of brown sugar (optional)

1 Tablespoon of flour

1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano

black pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Boil a large pot of water. (Make sure it's big enough to almost completely submerge the whole head of cabbage.)
2. While you wait for your water to boil, score the top of your cabbage. You want to score around the core of the cabbage and get in there with your knife at least two inches down. This step will make your cabbage leaves fall off easily in the hot water and keep the leaves whole. (Watch my video here to get a better picture of what I mean.) PLEASE BE CAREFUL with this part.
3. When your water is at a hard boil, GENTLY drop in your whole head of cabbage. Turn the heat down to a gentle simmer. After a minute, you should start to see the leaves fall off of the cabbage. Once the leaves have softened a bit, immediately remove them and place them on a dish towel fitted over a baking sheet. This whole process should take about 5 minutes. You only need about 16 leaves for the actual recipe, but you will need additional leaves for the rest of the recipe, so I recommend just using most of the leaves from the head of cabbage.
4. Using a clean dish towel, make sure to dry your leaves, completely.
5. With a pair of kitchen shears, you want to cut out most of the hard rib from the center of the cabbage leaves. Reserve the cut up pieces of cabbage and place them in a bowl for later use.
6. Into a large mixing bowl, add in your ground turkey, cooked brown rice with quinoa, carrots, celery, half a chopped onion, green onion, chopped garlic, ginger, sugar, salt, and black pepper. Drizzle in a bit of extra virgin olive oil and mix well.
7. Make your tomato sauce: Combine your can of fire roasted tomatoes, Maggie seasoning, brown sugar, flour, oregano, and black pepper. Stir well. Set aside.
8. Begin to assemble your rolls: Using a melon baller, if you have it, scoop out two rounded Tablespoons of filling on top of each cabbage leaf. Roll up and over the filling at least twice, tuck in the sides, and roll again. Don't roll it too firmly, because the tighter it is, the longer they will take to cook.
9. Into your crockpot, add in your excess rib leaves that you saved from earlier. Top that with the remaining thick slices of onion. Take some of your tomato sauce and pour that over your onions.
10. Add in all of your cabbage rolls and then top with the rest of the tomato sauce. Cover with the remaining WHOLE cabbage leaves, no more than two layers. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8. Check for doneness. Keeps in the fridge for a few days! My favorite way to eat them is with brown rice or quinoa. :)